Fiber artist takes her business to a new level

Photo by Ardeana Hamlin | BDN

Photo by Ardeana Hamlin | BDN

Jodi Clayton, owner of One Lupine in Bangor, unpacks a box of Peace Fleece yarn in the studio area of her newly expanded business which now offers space where knitters and fiber artists can gather to share their interests.

Fiber artists and knitters now have a new place to practice their craft and learn new skills.

One Lupine at 170 Park St., Bangor, recently has undergone an expansion that puts the business on a whole new level — literally.

After five years of occupying studio space in the daylight basement of the building, One Lupine owner Jodi Clayton has opened the One Lupine Boutique and Gallery on the floor above her studio, thus freeing space in the downstairs studio for an area where knitters, spinners and other fiber enthusiasts can socialize, exchange information and attend classes.

In the new space on the upper level, filled with light that floods in from windows facing east and west, Clayton displays “finely made work made in Maine by Maine artists, as well as work by others across New England and the United States,” she said, such as fine art, apparel from her studio downstairs, pottery and jewelry.

The expansion of the business to the upper floor is “multipronged,” Clayton said. “It gives us visibility, a look that is in keeping with the finely made work we carry and the ability to stock more work by the 70 vendors we work with. This is a great old building.” During the renovation the upper floor was gutted and redecorated, and a staircase from the upper level gallery to the lower floor studio was installed.

Not only is the building at the top of Park Street Hill home to Clayton’s studio and gallery, it also houses This Handmade Life and Studio 36, businesses owned by Jodi Renshaw; and Four Mutts, a graphic design business owned by Andy Hurtt.

“We already refer to the area as The Hill,” Clayton said.

“It feels like we are reclaiming this part of town,” said Clayton, who serves on the board of the Downtown Bangor Arts Collaborative. She credits Bangor’s Art Walk events with putting downtown and The Hill on the map as a destination where one can connect with artists and the products they create.

When she attended the New England Products Trade Show recently, she said that for the first time those who in previous years had known little about what’s going on in Bangor and had never been there, now perceive Bangor as a place where art and its associated enterprises are thriving. “That’s a very important change,” she said.

Clayton also is expanding her stock of yarns for knitters and crocheters. Her goal, she said, is to carry yarn and raw fiber from many kinds of animals, including Romney, Jacob, Shetland and Icelandic sheep, camel, bison, merino, alpaca, llama and rabbit — all, except for camel, are raised in Maine, she said.

To that end she already carries Peace Fleece produced in South Berwick, Nash Island yarn from sheep raised on that island in Washington County and processed by Starcroft Fiber Mill in Monroe, String Theory yarn from Blue Hill, and Soxx Appeal yarn, spun out of state but distributed by Knit One, Crochet Two in Windham.

The studio’s area for knitting is furnished with a sofa and chairs. Soon it will have a reference library and classes in knitting, spinning and other fiber arts will be offered. “I want this to be a community place,” Clayton said of the space. “I’m seeking direction from people in the fiber community to tell me what they need.”

Snippets

East Orrington Congregational Church will host a Quilt Show 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at the church, 38 Johnson Mill Road, Orrington. Admission will be $3. Lunch will be available. The public is invited to enter quilts or wall hangings, which can be brought to the church office from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, May 18; Thursday, May 19; and Friday, May 20; or from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 19. Of special interest in the show will be a bridal quilt made in 1840 by a Rockland family. For more information, call Linda Weinmann at 825-4591.